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Jones Island Information
Jones Island A peninsula located located at the Milwaukee Harbor. It began as
a fishing village populated by Polish settlers from the Kaszubes region in 1870
and now hosts much of the city's municipal services, including the Port of
Milwaukee and Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
Jones Island is an industrialized peninsula in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It began as
a marsh island between the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers, and now forms the
city's inner harbor design.
Extensive filling and channelization of the area began in the mid 1800s when
city co-founder Byron Kilbourn advocated a "straight cut" from the Milwaukee
River near the Menomonee River conflence out to Lake Michigan. This channel was
made in 1857 and is still in use today. Prior to that, the natural outlet for
all three rivers was at the southern end where the Kinnickinnic now turns north
to flow out of the straight cut. This area was later filled to provide railroad
access.
It was initially settled by Kashubian and German immigrants in 1870, who made
their living by fishing the bountiful Lake Michigan. Having never officially
obtained a deed for the land, they were considered squatters by the City of
Milwaukee and evicted in the 1940s to make way for a shipping port as part of an
inner harbor design.
Shipping formed around the natural inner harbor created by the rivers, but
designs were made for an outer harbor. Long piers built in and the exposed edge
of Jones Island was used for a system of docking terminals. After years of false
starts, changing designs, and petitioning the federal government for funding, an
inner harbor design was finalized that also included improvements to the outer
harbor and breakwaters.
Currently Jones Island is home to the Port of Milwaukee, the Milwaukee
Metropolitan Sewerage District's primary wastewater treatment plant, and other
municipal services. It also supports the Hoan Bridge, a long span bridge. The
land is heavily industrialized and only contains a couple of mature trees.